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eye on the longer term consequences.
Last month, a Turkish prosecutor even opened a case against 38 people, including two Bloomberg reporters, other journalists and economists, accusing them of seeking to destabilise the economy. The case hinges on an article written by the Bloomberg journalists, which said banks were having trouble meeting foreign currency demand while the lira nosedived to a record low last August.
Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Ministry, meanwhile, run by Erdogan's son-in- law Berat Albayrak, has several times lambasted the international rating agencies following downgrades, claiming they were biased against the country. It happened again this week.
In May, the IMF called on Turkey to ensure economic and financial stability, pressing for a comprehensive package of reforms. But it went out of its way not to tread on Erdogan’s toes by stressing twice over to reporters that no Turkish officials had been in touch with a mind to inquiring about obtaining financial assistance for their country.
2.5 Business and consumer confidence surveys
2.6 Politics - shorts
The foreign ministers of Cyprus, Greece and Armenia agreed on June 4 to expand trilateral cooperation in a range of areas. On top of their common location in the broader Eastern Mediterranean/Caucasus region, the three countries have troubled relationships with Turkey. Both Armenia and Greece have historic conflicts with the region’s largest economy that colour present-day relations. Cyprus has been partitioned since the 1970s, with the Turkish-backed Northern Cyprus de facto independent though not internationally recognised, and Nicosia is currently in an increasingly serious standoff with Ankara over Turkish drilling plans for oil and gas in the Eastern Mediterranean. Armenia has no diplomatic relations with Turkey, which backs Azerbaijan in the long-running dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Cyprus warned last month that it will issue international and European arrest warrants “for all involved” if drilling for gas and oil — as threatened by Turkey — takes place in what it considers as its exclusive economic zone. The issue was part of the talks, as Cypriot Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides said after the meeting that he had briefed his counterparts on the situation on the island as well as on Turkish activities in the offshore zone. However, talks also
19 TURKEY Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com